Odds and Sods

Tag Archives: travel

On our second day in Paris, it’s @#$%king hot, 37C hot. Turns out most Parisians traditionally leave town for that reason. The only people left are the tourists, the service industry, and some die hards. We walked the Champ Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe then later to the Eiffel Tower. The stores along the Champ Elysees were pretty impressive, almost every major auto manufacturer had a outlet with their coolest cars along with branded restaurants such as the Mercedes Cafe (for real). And yes we did have lunch at McDs as part of Natalies Social Studies assignment for school.

After our train ride we arrived in Paris and were greeted by our friends who took us in during our stay. After we freshened up we went for a walk near Momtmartre and Sacre Coeur which are near where our friends live. The area was packed with tourists but also packed with great shops and street performers.

Traveled to Paris today on train from Exeter St Davids station though Paddington in London where we had to take the tube to St Pancras….lots of running to catch trains while dragging luggage which is tiring but going 300km/hour for a few hours on a train is worth it 🙂

From a North American point of view the distances in Britain should be negligible. The distance from Morchard Road to Exmouth (see the fishing trip pictures) is just over 40KM, nothing, this is the distance I have to drive cross town in Calgary to take my daughter to visit a friend, a mere 25 minutes of driving.

In Britain, for a variety of reasons, the same distance takes about an hour and a half. My father in law drove us and here are my observations from that journey.

The roads in Devon are narrow, usually single lane with no shoulder, and quite a bit windier. Nothing like our straight line of sight roads in North America. Consequently, you can never really open up the throttle and achieve the speeds that one can on North American road. Clenching my teeth and death gripping the dash I checked dad’s speed and it never exceeded 90KMH and usually averaged much lower as you had to slow down passing through the numerous towns along the way. There are also few passing lanes and even then passing is challenging as the traffic is generally heavy in both directions.

Passing though Exeter took a majority of the time, although we never got stuck the way we do during rush hour in Calgary there were numerous lights and traffic circles where we had to wait our turn to go.

My overall impression is that it takes significantly more concentration to drive in Devon than I have ever had to devote to driving in North America with the wide open spaces and practically straight roads. The result is that at the end of the journey in both directions I find myself as exhausted as if I’d driven from Calgary to Vancouver rather than a mere 40 kilometres.

The alternative is to take the train which overall I have found much more enjoyable and stress free. On the way back from Exmouth Shareen and I took the train back and I’d say it wasn’t faster but much more relaxing.

My father in law states that the service has improved dramatically in the last few years, the result of which is that so far the trains are clean, run on time, and have courteous staff. Completely worth it.

Fishing in Exmouth, just down/up the coast from Budleigh Salterton, we’d booked a two hour tour with Tiger Charters and went to do some Mackerel fishing (Jeremy caught four to my one). Total tourist town with lots of amusement rides including donkeys on the beach. Great fish and chips as always but you’ll wait forty five minutes for a sandwich in one of the ritzy upscale restaurants.

Today we visited Dartington Crystal, I’m told it’s the only place in the UK that still blows their glass by hand. The produce about 1700 pieces per day, all beautiful but a bit pricey for my wallet and I find a bit heavier than I like. Gorgeous stuff however and watching the skill of the glass blowers is a treat.

While the boys were out not catching fish, the girls went back to Exeter to have lunch with a long lost aunt. They visited Rougemont Gardens which was the (damn) Normans seat of power back in the day. The description of the place is in the name.

The stained glass window is from St Stephens Church which is a few blocks away from St Martins.

So today we went to Budleigh Salterton to fish. Fishing was a bit of an abortive experience as our gear was not quite up to snuff but the beach and the drive were great. It takes about an hour and a quarter to get from Northcott Cottage to Budleigh Salterton (I kept calling it Bubbly Selzertown to bug my in-laws) and it’s like leaving the rolling hills of Devon and ending up in the Mediterranean. The temperature was quite a bit warmer than when we left Northcott Cottage.

The town itself is totally a tourist town with big houses and estates around. The streets are so narrow that cars can’t pass each other if there’s a parked one, we have to take turns going.

The beach is a pebble beach which is a first for me and the earth around the beach is quite red and orange.

Where we are staying with Shareen’s parents, Northcott Cottage. The house is about 600 years old, apparently it was given to the daughter of the farmer way back along with 35 acres of land across the road as her dowry. Idea being that she could rent out the land and house and earn her own living that way. Over the years the family got the land back but somehow the cottage remained empty until relatively recently. Shareen’s parents own the half on the right and they have a neighbour in the part on the left.

We also have their garden in the back and there’s another garden in the front (not shown).